October 7, 2016
Our Lady of the Rosary
FIAT NEWSLETTER
ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PARISH
Dear Friend of Annunciation Parish & School,
Why is October often called “the month of the rosary”? We can thank Pope Leo
XIII, who occupied the papacy from 1878-1903, for
this designation as he called for the rosary to be
prayed in all parish churches during the month of October. In fact, we could even say that Pope Leo was
the “rosary pope”, as he wrote numerous Apostolic
Letters and encyclicals on praying the rosary. But he
didn’t just randomly decide upon the month of October as the rosary month. Way back in the year 1571,
Christians defeated the Turks in a naval battle at Lepanto on October 7th, and they attributed this victory
to the praying of the rosary. Pope Pius V, who was
pope at that time, declared that the anniversary of this
military victory be celebrated with a Feast of Our Lady of Victory. Within two years, Pope Gregory XIII
(pope from 1572-1585) declared the first Sunday in
October the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Today,
The Virgin of the Rosary
Bartolome Esteban Murillo, 1650 we celebrate this feast on October 7th.
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti),
Florence
Sincerely,
“The Rosary is a school of prayer;
the Rosary is a school of faith.” (Pope Francis)
Dr. Sandi Chakeres
Director of Faith Formation
The Rosary & the Christian Week
While some Christians pray all twenty decades of the rosary each
day, others try to pray one set of mysteries daily. The suggested
manner of praying the groups of Mysteries is to pray the Joyful
Mysteries on Monday and Saturday, the Luminous Mysteries on
Thursday, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday and Friday, and
the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday and Sunday. Already here
you can see some connections with the Liturgical Calendar, or
the Christian week. We are praying the Sorrowful Mysteries on Friday, the day our
Lord died, and the Glorious Mysteries on Sunday, the day of Christ’s resurrection.
FIAT: Faith In Action Today
Annunciation Parish & School
Religious Education/Faith Formation News
Dr. Sandra Chakeres
Director of Faith Formation
513-861-1295
[email protected]
www.annunciationbvmparish.org
www.facebook.com/annunciationbvmparish
Special points of interest:
 Thank you to our school students for their
generous response to our School Fall Outreach Drive, providing food for the St.
George Food Pantry.
 Thanks to all who helped make last week’s
Annunciation Pig Roast a success!
 Follow us on Facebook to get all our latest
news and see all our latest photos!
**Icon at top left of page: Archangel Gabriel (Annunciation), 16th Century, Russian Heritage, Location: Andrei Rublev Museum in Moscow. Used with permission of St. Isaac of Syria Skete (Orthodox Byzantine Icons, Inc.); 25266
Pilgrims Way, Boscobel, WI 53805 www.skete.com
The Rosary
Many Catholic Christians grew up praying the rosary. While not unique to Roman Catholics, the rosary is generally considered by many non-Catholics to be a very Catholic tradition.
The devotion of the rosary has been part of our tradition for almost a thousand years, having developed in the second millennium of Christianity. The
Dominican Religious Order did much to spread the popularity of this devotion, and therefore the rosary is often attributed to their founder, Saint
Dominic, who died in the year 1221.
The Psalms have often been referred to as the “prayer book” of Christians.
In fact, the Psalms are part of the Hebrew Scriptures, and we get these
beautiful song prayers from our Jewish brothers and sisters. For centuries,
the psalms have been prayed daily in the Liturgy of the Hours. There are
150 Psalms in the Bible. Centuries ago, those who couldn’t read to pray
these psalms began substituting the Lord’s Prayer for the Psalms. By the
12th century, the Hail Mary prayer replaced the Lord’s Prayer in this regard, and Christians who couldn’t read the Psalms were praying 150 Hail
Mary prayers. This is why the rosary is sometimes called the “Psalter of
Mary”, referring to the 150 Psalms. Christians used prayer beads to count
the number of prayers recited. The 150 prayers were broken down into
three groups of 50, and these 50 were then broken down into groups of ten
each, or a decade. For each decade of the rosary, Christians reflected on an event, or “mystery”, in the life of Jesus and
Mary. There were five Joyful Mysteries, five Sorrowful Mysteries and five Glorious Mysteries. In this third millennium of
Christianity, Pope John Paul II gave the Church five new mysteries to meditate upon, the Luminous Mysteries. With twenty mysteries, it is not as obvious to see the connection between the rosary and the Psalms. But the “Psalter of Mary” remains a beautiful devotion.
USCCB Call to Prayer
Upcoming Events

Sunday, October 9: Meet and Greet following 9:00
a.m. & 11:00 a.m. Mass

Wednesday, October 12, 7:00-8:15 p.m.: Eucharistic
Holy Hour

Thursday, October 13, 9:30-10:15 a.m.: Morning Prayer & Rosary

Thursday, October 20, 9:30-10:15 a.m.: Morning Prayer & Rosary

Thursday, October 20, 7:00-8:30 p.m.: Confirmation
Family Preparation

Wednesday, October 26, 7:00-8:15 p.m.: Eucharistic
Holy Hour

Monday, October 31: No School; Faculty Faith Formation In-Service, 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 1:
All Saints Day - Holy
Day of Obligation. Mass
at 8:15 a.m. and 7:00
p.m.
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It’s Happening at
Annunciation!
Text copyright 2016 by Sandra A. Chakeres, Cincinnati, Ohio. All rights reserved.